Learning from The Word

Learning from The Word

In The Field: investigating trash

Supplies: trash can, empty water bottle, lipstick, leaf, empty trail mix or candy wrapper, Kleenex TM, piece of paper, pen

Preparation: Put on the lipstick then put the water bottle up to your mouth as if drinking to leave a lip print on the bottle. Wad up the Kleenex TM so it looks used. Write on the piece of paper “2.5 miles.” Place the water bottle, leaf, empty wrapper, Kleenex and paper inside the trash can.

Secret agents use many different high tech devices to gather information. However, sometimes they also use some fairly simple gathering techniques. For instance, investigating trash. By looking through a person’s trash, an agent can find out many clues about a person.

Let’s try it. I have a trash can here. I am going to show you what is in the trash can. Then I will give you a few minutes to figure out the story behind what is in the trash can.

(Divide the kids into groups to work together to make up their stories. Then, pull the items out of the trash can one by one commenting on each one and place them on a table. Allow the kids to come up and look at the table if they need a better look during the small group time.)

After the allotted time (5-10 minutes), call the kids back together.

Were you able to use the clues from the trash can to figure out something about the person using the can? (If time, have a few groups share their stories.) I am going to tell you the real story behind the trash can.

Because of the lipstick on the water bottle, we can deduce that it was a girl. The empty water bot- tle tells us that she was thirsty. The leaf indicates that she had been outside. The paper with 2.5 miles indicates that something was 2.5 miles long. The empty wrapper shows that she was hungry.  And finally the tissue indicates that she had to blow her nose.

We can make a guess about what happened using these clues: A girl went for a walk outside. She walked 2.5 miles, drinking from her water bottle as she went or after she got back. She also was hungry and ate a snack. The walk made her allergies act up.

Was your story close?

We can use clues like what was in the trash can to try to figure out someone. But would we know someone much better if they were to walk into the room with us. What if they told us exactly what happened? What if they allowed us to go on the nature walk with them and we observed them? Or what if someone who observed them wrote it down for us?

When Jesus came to earth in human form, He came as the Word. The disciples and others that encountered Him heard His teachings. They watched His miracles. They saw His suffering on the

cross and witnessed His resurrection. Then those who saw it wrote it down for others to read it.

We can know God because He communicated with us through His Son, Jesus. God’s words and actions are also Jesus’ words and actions.

So let’s not just pick up clues about God from other people, let’s read His Word and find out exactly what He says. And we can find out if the “clues” we pick up from other people are right or not by reading His Word. 

This lesson is an excerpt from the Spy Lab of Imagination Factory.

Check out the Spy Lab in our store.